Trail Camera Showdown: Round 3

[Onin24Eagle]

Primos Truth Cam 35

vs

Spypoint G4

This will be a little shorter than the others since, although I got quite a few pics from each camera, I did not get ANY daytime pics from either one.  Therefore we are only going to compare pics taken with the IR flash.

First up, Nighttime pic w/ moving subject:

Primos:



Pretty much what we saw in the first two rounds.  A little blurry but you can still make out the rack (or in this case, the lack thereof)

Spypoint:



The Spypoint G4 does have a "graininess" to all of it's pictures, day or night, but it is one of the best cameras I've used as far as the blur factor goes.  There's a small amount of blurriness, but not much.  Quite a bit better than the Primos, in fact.

Another nighttime moving subject,

Primos:



Again, a small blur factor.  Not sure what this critter is.  At first I thought maybe a fox, but I really don't think so.  Maybe a Fisher?  Chupacabra?

Spypoint:



Again, a little "grainy" with a slight amount of blur.  Still not bad though.

Moving subject #3

Primos:



Got this guy coming through a couple times.  You won't get much detail on any camera with a big black mass of fur moving at night, but if you look at the reflection of the IR flash on the eye, you can tell there's some blurring going on here.

Spypoint:



Maybe I should take that last statement back.  Actually, there is quite a bit more detail in this one.  Especially in the face.

Moving subject, dawn (light out but not enough to switch off IR)

Primos:

Did not detect this guy.

Spypoint:



Pretty good detail and you can tell he's moving at a decent clip.  

Still photo, night:

Primos:



Good detail.  The guy in front is moving a little so there's a small amount of blur but the deer in the background shows up clear as a bell.

Spypoint:



Less blurriness on the little guy in front and overall a little more grainy than the Primos but plenty good enough of a photo.

Still subject #2

Primos:



Pretty much the same description as the previous photo, only with a bigger deer.

Spypoint:



Again, just a little grainy but certainly nothing worth complaining about.

Other Pros and Cons

Pros:

Primos
Easy Set up
Very good battery life (although at 60% during this matchup, this cam has already taken over 2500 pics this season)
Pretty cheap camera (around $75)

Spypoint G4:
Uses 8 AA batteries
Awesome battery life (have had batteries in this since early/mid July and it's still over 90%)
Super easy to set up
Small, Compact size
Mounting strap is easy to use and long enough to fit very large trees
RealTree camo pattern helps conceal it.
Switch inside battery compartment allows you to go from alkaline to rechargeable and get the most out of your batteries depending on which you are using.

Cons:

Primos
Big and Bulky
Uses "D" batteries
I don't like where the SD card slot is
Model has been discontinued and replaced with the more expensive Truth Cam 35 Ultra (though you can still get them at some retailers...for now)

Spypoint
Pics are a bit "grainy"
Price has gone waaaay up since I bought mine.  (They were $99 when I bought this last year.  They are $179 now, although they come with a remote viewer which was not available when I bought it, but still, $80??  Wow.)

Edit:

I forgot to announce a winner.  I'm going with the G4 based on the quality of the IR pics with moving subjects.  I can forgive a little graininess if I can make out details just fine.

Next matchup will be the Spypoint G4 vs the Covert CA3.0.

I've moved them to a different location so hopefully I get enough pics to get a decent comparison.

[ray634]

What size cameras - mega pixel? There would be a photo quality difference with lower mp cameras.

[Onin24Eagle]

The Primos is a 3.0 megapixel and the Spypoint is 4.0 megapixel.

Megapixels should have zero influence on blurry images.  In fact, they have little influence on picture quality in general unless you are printing large photos.  On a computer screen you could not tell the difference between a 3.0 megapixel and a 16.0 megapixel camera since your screen has it's own megapixel count which cannot be overridden or improved by taking a photo with a camera that has a higher megapixel count.  Screens generally have about 100 DPI (dots per inch) so if you take the size of your screen (for the sake of argument let's say it's 15" x 10") multiply each by 100 and then multiply those with each other you will get your screen megapixel count.  In the example I cited it would be 1500 x 1000 = 1500000 or 1.5 megapixels.

[corky]

Thanks for doing these.  they are very informative and interesting.  I'll use this before buying my next camera.

[dakids]

Thanks for doing these.  they are very informative and interesting.  I'll use this before buying my next camera.

X2

[MnDeerStalker]

Im excited about the next one coverts are my favorite i use the assains but still awsome cams.

[Onin24Eagle]

I'm interested in the Covert as well.  I've only had it for about a month now and did not have it located in the best spot for seeing any activity.  Hopefully I have the two cameras aimed properly because I mounted them up about 12 feet off the ground (drove a Polaris Ranger next to the tree and stood on the top of the cab....I'll have to do the same thing to check them).  It seems to me to have a slow trigger time but we should be able to tell for sure once we do a side by side comparison.  I moved the cameras to a new location and up higher since in my opinion too many bucks were noticing that they were there.

To add on the pic quality vs megapixel rant I had above, I just checked the website and Spypoint has a firmware update to "improve the picture quality".  I downloaded it to an SD card and will update the next time I'm out there.  I'm assuming it takes care of the grainy resolution.

One last thing,

Anyone want to take a stab at what the critter is in pics 3 & 4 above?  I still don't know.

[dakids]

It is a grey fox.  I have a daytime pic on photobuc,ket that I will try and post. I posted on here a couple of months ago.

[dakids]

 Yup double checked and it is a grey fox. I just did a ttt on the other thread because I am on my phone right now.